Roma line up talks for Blues winger Malouda
Chelsea officials will meet Roma directors this weekend over the possible sale of Florent Malouda. The Serie A side's sporting director Daniele Prade will use his club's trip to London for a friendly at Tottenham on Sunday to try to do a deal for Malouda the day before.
Since missing out on signing former Chelsea striker Adrian Mutu from Fiorentina last month, Roma have turned their attentions to Malouda, who they believe suits coach Luciano Spalletti's 4-2-3-1 system.
The France winger joined Chelsea only last summer but has struggled to settle both at the club and in London, and Roma are confident the Stamford Bridge hierarchy would be willing to let him go for £11.9million - £2.7m less than they paid Lyon for last July.
Malouda started just one of Chelsea's five pre-season games, and manager Luiz Felipe Scolari believes the 28-year-old was "wasted" in his first season in England. Scolari said: "Malouda did not play in the same role as he had done at Lyon. He was wasted. He should be flying down the wing and scoring goals."
Meanwhile, the Brazilian claims Chelsea have been mentally scarred by their penalty shoot-out defeat against Manchester United in the Champions League Final.
He said: "They have been affected by what happened there. I have to improve the players' minds to stop it happening again.
"How do you overcome it? You work every day to try to build the players' self belief. I need to change the mentality in the club where some players are afraid of penalties because they don't want to make a mistake. They must cope with the pressure."
